Moment of Rest
by Manuum Verto
Summary: After the Stalker train-car incident, Gordon and Alyx stop for a moment of rest and comfort each other.


Gordon walked away from the derailed train, thinking frantically of what to do. They had been so close to getting out of the city. Now what? Of course this had to happen. With his luck, why was he surprised?  
He was stopped by the shaky voice of Alyx a few feet behind him.

"Hold up a sec!" Alyx said, leaning on the wall and clutching her chest, "I ah... I gotta catch my breath..."

Gordon furrowed his brow worriedly and walked over to Alyx. She was sweating and her hands trembled in shock from the crash and encounter with the Stalkers. She sighed and held her head in her hands.

"Okay... well, this might not be as easy as I thought."She said, sliding down the wall into a crouching position. "We're in the same boat as the other evacuees now. On foot to a train station... "  
Gordon crouched down at Alyx's level and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He was tired and injured and stressed just as she was, but somehow the fact that he wasn't going through it alone served to numb the pain.

In the short time he had known Alyx, he had seen her bravery, her fear, her skill, her heart...  
In these difficult times, she still found a reason to smile or crack a joke every now and again.  
The way she looked at Gordon was honest and pure.  
She had a face that was neither overpowering nor weak.  
She was like Gordon in the way she kept fighting though she was scared out of her mind and didn ft always know exactly what she was doing. She rarely let that fear show. But everyone needs to be comforted sometimes.

Gordon clasped his hands together in nervous thought. He was a master at getting his point across without saying a word in every other respect, but when it came to Alyx, he was always left unsure of what to do.  
He had a PhD in theoretical physics, and he couldn ft even come up with a way to show his affection or even comfort his distressed comrade. Hours of study weren ft much help here.

Oh... what the hell, he thought.

Alyx's eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply, trying to get her bearings and clear her head. So much for that.

Gordon kissed Alyx softly on the cheek for a second or two. She felt her face go numb and she knew she must have been blushing furiously.

Gordon cleared his throat nervously and sat back down on the floor beside her, suddenly very interested in studying the ground.  
Alyx smiled and placed a hand on her face where Gordon had kissed her. Turning towards him despite her slight embarrassment, she quipped "Gee Gordon, you sure do know how to give a great pep-talk."

Gordon's shoulders shook slightly in laughter, but stopped when Alyx suddenly placed a hand under his chin and turned his head to face hers.  
A moment of intense silence encompassed them.  
"My turn." she said in a low voice, as she inched closer to the bespectacled man before her.  
Gordon's eyes widened and he avoided her stare, looking every which way until Alyx finally pressed her lips to his own, and his lids lowered over his intense green irises.

Alyx pushed Gordon's large glasses up to rest on top of his head and moved her body closer to his. Gordon was thinking a million thoughts at once. As Alyx kissed him deeply, he hesitated. He was never really the type to become "physically involved" with another person very often. Science had always been his focus, even as a teenager... but things were changing left and right these days. At any rate, he knew little about the etiquette of kissing. Awkward and unsure, his right hand hovered in the air next to Alyx's waist.  
He placed his left hand timidly on Alyx fs face, and she reassured him by covering it with her own.

As the kiss intensified over time, the both of them began breathing frantically, parting only for gulps of oxygen here and there. Despite Gordon's initial unsteadiness, he soon found himself riding the waves of utter joy and warm that came with each touch, every tiny nibble, every sigh and deep breath.  
Alyx was on top of the world, overjoyed to finally be rid of the tension that had been building up between the two of them since their meeting not so very long ago.  
She had kissed people before, but this particular kiss was incomparable to the others. There was something else there that she hadn't felt before... infatuation perhaps.  
All she knew was that she had really needed this.  
They were lost in each other fs presence. Suddenly, there were no Combine. There were no Stalkers or zombies or any other horrifying creatures in their minds at that moment.

Doubtless they would have to hurry along soon, returning to their ever-stressful lives as soldiers in the name of freedom, but for the first time in a long time, they were comforted. Comforted by the fact that beyond the hardships of the ongoing war against humanity presented by otherworldly beings, they still had love and camaraderie. That was something that the Combine could never deprive them of.  
They still had each other.

After a while, Alyx finally lowered her head and slowly moved away from the disheveled physicist who stared affectionately at her, smirking awkwardly and adjusting his glasses.  
Standing up, she extended her hand to Gordon Freeman.  
"Alright... heh heh... We should get a move on. Come on Gordon!" she said, the strength and confidence in her voice renewed.

Gordon nodded and took her hand.

And so, away they went as always, running once more on unsteady ground through a labyrinth of danger, defending their people in any way they could. Together.


End file.
